CHAPTER 14 PART 2 OF 4
THE ROCKBONE BEAR
“Ok, ok. So how about stats. Like, Strength, Spirit, Agility. How high can they go?”
When Korah only looked at him blankly, he continued. “You know what stats are right?” Lucas brought up Korah’s character sheet.
image [https://i.imgur.com/WtKdhT1.jpg]
“You have 6 Strength, I have 4. That makes you a lot stronger than I am.”
“You mean The Gates of Power! Yes I have opened the sixth Gate for Strength and Agility, and fifth for Spirit,'' Korah replied. “You must have great powers of insight to see that. It's very unusual for a woman to have opened such high Gates so I am often underestimated.”
Lucas laughed. “That could be a fun surprise if someone picks a fight.” Korah grinned broadly in response.
“Gates, ok. So having 4 Strength means you have opened the 4th ‘Gate of Strength”. Lucas decided he would rather think of them using the native terminology.
“I came here with the Third Gate open. Opening the Fourth Gate wasn't hard but, despite doing a lot of exercise, I still can't get either Strength or Agility to 5. You having 6 seems very high, is 6 a lot of Strength for a normal person?” He asked.
“Every child is born with the first Gates open. They will open the second or third by maturing naturally. For Strength and Agility, opening the second Gate is usual for women and the third for men. There are plenty of exceptions to that of course. A man with a naturally powerful physique might open the fourth without training, and perhaps a strong woman can reach the third. Having the fourth Gate in both Strength and Agility open is necessary for any warrior and can be achieved with good training. Opening the fifth Gates requires a combination of dedication, tallent and expert training. A warrior with their fifth Gates opened is a valuable and respected addition to any band of warriors. Opening the sixth Gate is normally impossible. I achieved it only with the aid of a master, even then it was only possible because of the power granted to me by my Sisters in the Water. The Great Houses have secret ways to elevate gifted warriors to this level, and those secrets are part of the reason they become Great Houses.”
Combat Spider was skittering around them both in wide circles as they walked, but paused a few metres ahead at the top of a rise. When Korah and Lucas reached the top, a wide plateau opened up with a dense scattering of crumbled ruins. Lucas hesitated, remembering the strange robot that had taken a sample of his skin. Korah stepped ahead without hesitation, however, so he followed.
“These ruins seem to be everywhere. Do you know much about them?” Lucas asked.
“These were built by the Ancients. In this part of the world you can barely take a step without tripping over them, but most of it is underground. I bet you could not dig a hole in this forest without hitting something. A lot of people live in this part of the world because so many Relics are still working. Like at Votterdam to the north, it was built around the site of many working Relics. Many people live there, so many I could barely hear myself think when I went to visit.”
“Sounds like a place I’d like to visit.” Lucas said, winding his way between crumbled pillars.
“These ruins must be really old, why do some of them still work and not others?”
“The Ancients created some to self repair. And some have Soulless workers who repair and maintain them.”
“Soulless?” Lucas asked
“They are strange creatures with no Aura, made of metal and stone and whatever else they can get their hands on. The Ancients made them to be servants. The Druids say the Ancients all disappeared, swallowed by their own avarice, but their creations live on in some of the ruins.”
“Yea I think I met one. Though, I couldn't see if it had an Aura or not back then.”
They manoeuvred though the ruin without much incident, and the forest soon engulfed them again.
“So, are there people out there with 7 Str… I mean, with the 7th Gate open?”
“I have met one person past the 7th Gate, a hero from the war. If I had not seen it for myself I might not have believed it. It is said the Emperor in the south has the 9th Gate of Strength, but common people like to exaggerate about famous warriors. There are many stories of course, great figures of legend with the 10th or 11th Gates open but that is probably only something for the sagas.”
“Ok ok.. So, does someone with the 6th Gate open have double the Strength of someone with the 3rd Gate open?”
“Much more, passing the fourth Gate will give you almost double the physical power as the third.”
Korah showed no signs of impatience at Lucas’s constant questioning. Since she was happy to keep answering, Lucas was going to keep asking but a flashing red signal appeared on his Map. Zooming out into a bird's eye view revealed one of his Scouts giving off the signal for prey.
“There is something ahead,” Lucas said, pointing towards where his Scout was still flashing on his Map. They picked up the pace with Combat Spider screening their approach, stopping when a deep grunting noise echoed through the forest ahead. Lucas had intended to find a safe angle to spy from Stealth, but was struck by an idea. As it was, he was using the eyes of the Scout on his shoulder to relay the environment through his Map ability. This created a 3D model of reality that had been perfectly aligned with the environment, resulting in him being able to ‘see’ the world by orienting himself to a first person perspective within his Map. There was no reason he couldn't see the area near his other Scouts in the same way, despite them not being near him.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Lucas zoomed out to the birds eye view of his Map. Rather than zooming back into the environment around him, he zoomed in on his Scout that was watching their prey.
Feeling a little impressed with himself, Lucas took in the scene. An improbably large bear was standing on its back feet, leaning against a tree trunk and using its formidable bulk to shake it. Leaves and acorns fell all over but the bear had its attention fixated on something up in the branches. Lucas figured some prey had escaped up there and the bear was trying to shake it out. However, his Scout was not looking up so he couldn't see for himself.
Lucas ended the Scry by returning perspective to the Scout on his shoulder, then turned to Korah and explained what he saw. Korah didn’t question that Lucas could apparently Scry. Considering the range of powers he had displayed since yesterday, she seemed ready to accept that he could do just about anything.
“What you are describing is a Rockbone bear. They are very hard to kill. I can stand up to it, but not for long. Not long enough to kill it with this,” Korah said in a low voice, tapping the axe at her side.
“So it’s bones are hard?”
“Everything about it is tough and hard, just to pierce its skin requires great force. That much I can do, but the bones I could never break. The old ones can heal themselves too,” said Korah. “Does killing something big and powerful mean you can make bigger and more powerful spiders?”
Lucas nodded.
“Ok, if it's too strong we will probably need to run but, let us try.”
Lucas considered his options. His Mana was low, having recovered only 2 points since he hatched his last Scout. Korah said she can stand up to it temporarily, probably meaning she would need her Empower ability to match it. They would need to do some kind of critical damage to it before she ran out of Mana.
“Let's set up an ambush and try to cripple it in a surprise attack.” Lucas said. “Then we can take our time, maybe bleed it out or find other ways to wear it down once it's not a threat.”
Korah nodded.
“Can you bait it? I will strike its leg tendons if you can lure it past me,” She said, flexing the wrist of her axe hand.
Lucas didn't like the idea of being bait, but it made sense. He had the least direct combat potential of himself, Korah, and Combat Spider. He could also go into Stealth once the bear was distracted.
“Ok,” he said reluctantly. “Let’s get closer, I won’t be able to outrun it for long.”
Korah swung her pack into a tree and carried only her axe as they approached quietly. Combat Spider displayed some impressive stealthy movements. Lowering its body close to the ground, it moved smoothly and silently. Its many legs allowed it to ignore obstacles around which Korah and Lucas had to climb. A tremendously deep grunting sound, accompanied by a huge oak shaking like it was about to be uprooted, made it very obvious where their prey was. When they got close enough to get a clear view they both paused, allowing Korah to look for an ambush spot while Lucas used Analyse.
image [https://i.imgur.com/tGr4yE8.jpg]
The bear was enormous. Standing up on its hind legs like that, it was over four metres tall and exceedingly thick. The old oak it was trying to rip out was also big, but the ground around it was being displaced as the root systems were ripped out.
‘I’m pretty sure we can’t kill that, we probably can't even hurt it,’ Lucas thought to himself. ‘Anything with 9 Strength would flatten me in a second.’ Looking over to Korah he figured
she might have been thinking the same thing by the look on her face, but she signalled him to continue.
While Korah settled into a nook behind a large tree root, Lucas started thinking over everything he had that might be useful. He had two Porcupine Quills and his perfectly balanced dagger for weapons, but didnt think he was likely to do any damage with them. Korah would probably be the only one able to damage it, and perhaps Combat spider could get a chance to poison it.
He had a lot of defence and recovery options; two healing potions from his last quest reward, his Regeneration Bracer, his Enchanted Armor, and Korah’s Healing Nexus. The Healing Nexus was back in Korah’s pack, but a Nexus was usually useless in a fight anyway since it left your body defenceless. Lucas wondered if he should give the Regeneration Bracer to Korah but figured, if he was going to act as bait, he might end up needing it more. The bear was making such a cacophony that Lucas decided he could risk talking to Korah without being heard.
“This thing has powerful regeneration capabilities. If you were to cut a muscle or tendon completely, or chop a limb off, would it be able to heal itself?”
“No, it would be permanently crippled. Magical healing can only accelerate how the body would normally heal. If its leg tendon is severed it will stay severed.”
“Ok, so we can probably cripple it one way or another. Take this Healing Potion,” Lucas said, pulling the red vial out of his inventory.
She looked at it for a moment but then shook her head.
“I can not fight while trying to hold that, and it will just break if I try tying it to my belt.”
‘Right, I'm the one with an Inventory ability,’ Lucas thought. He tossed it over anyway, and she caught it.
“Just put it on the ground there and maybe you will get a chance to come back to it if you get hurt. I’ve got a spare for myself.” Lucas said
She nodded and wedged it safely behind a root. Despite having 2 Mana remaining, he didn't pre-emptively put on the Regeneration Bracer or activate his Enchanted Armor. Using up his Mana might be a waste if he didn't get hurt during the baiting phase.
Unable to think of any other ways to improve their chances, Lucas stood up. He took a deep breath, trying to press down the fear that was setting his nerves on fire. His brain started listing reasons he shouldn't be doing this as he took one of his Porcupine quills out of his Inventory. He then stepped silently into the open. The bear was paying no attention to him, fixated on whatever was up in the tree. After being ignored for a moment longer Lucas picked up a rock from nearby and, after briefly hesitating, threw it. The rock bounced off the bear's enormously thick neck but it didn't even notice. After rubbing his forehead for a moment, Lucas yelled at it.
“Oi! Bear! Over here you massive fucking.. Dickhead!”